Keynote Lunch: Birth of an Industry: Taking Commercial Spaceflight from Science Fiction to Business Viability

Keynote Lunch: Birth of an Industry: Taking Commercial Spaceflight from Science Fiction to Business Viability

Date of Event:

March 10th, 2014

Run Time:

12:00 - 13:30

Room Number:

202

Track:

Satellite Finance Forum

Not so long ago, discussions of commercial spaceflight were met with a few rolled eyes, mounds of skepticism, and a long view of the future. Now, evidence such as SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation’s successful delivery of cargo to the ISS under commercial contracts with NASA, powered test flights of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, and development of the spaceport infrastructure in several locations, shows that future is at our doorstep. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is tasked with facilitating this development, through avenues such as regulatory and policy advocacy, standards development, industry tracking, and facilitation of research agenda. As both the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, and a long-time former NASA astronaut and former ISS commander, Michael Lopez-Alegria has the enviable front row seat for this transformation. In his keynote address, Mr. Lopez-Alegria will discuss his personal experience with human spaceflight, the journey of the commercial spaceflight industry as it evolves from fantasy to reality, and where the next steps will take us.